The degree of reduction in sex pheromone‐mediated responsiveness of male light‐brown apple moth, which results from previous exposure to the pheromone, is increased by presenting the pre‐exposure dose as a sequence of short pulses, rather than as a single pre‐exposure. This effect is interpreted in terms of adaptation and disadaptation of the pheromone receptors, and of central habituation and dishabituation. When the interval between pulses is of sufficient length for receptor disadaptation, the total amount of excitatory input generated by the pulsed pheromone would be greater than if the same dose were to be applied continuously. It is concluded that the greater resultant reduction in responsiveness following pulsing is directly related to the greater degree of habituation resulting from this presumed increased amount of excitatory input.
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Bartell et al. (1977) studied this question.